Cute tote giveaway!

Check out this great givaway! These totes are adorable! Would you like to win one? All you have to do is click Here

American Idol recap

Last night on American Idol the winners were Lil ROunds, Scott MacIntyre, and Jorge Nunez. I don't really mind any of them, they're all good. However, I'm sticking with either Danny Gorkey or Adam Lambert to win this thing.



After the winners were announced they brought out 8 picks to compete in the wild card show. I have to say I was soo astonished at who they picked. Actually, I was outraged! I could see them bringing back Jasmin Murray, Jesse Langseth and Megan Corkrey, but seriously. . .Tatiana??? Ugh! I hate her overly dramatic, self absorbed, 'I am the center of the universe' behavior. Why did they bring her back? I honestly think it was just for the drama. After all, drama reaps ratings. I was just so happy to be rid of her and I'm so mad she's back! I'm not even going to post her picture I'm so disgusted! Just be sure to catch the show tonight!

I Love This!

The first 3 people to respond to this post will get something made by me. My choice. Made especially for you.

Restrictions and Limitations:
1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It will be done this year.
4. You have no clue what it's going to be, because I don't even know what it's going to be!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The Catch: You must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 3 people who comment on your post and agree to do the same! So get ready for your mystery treat but be prepared to share the love!Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you get when you get it.

Thank You Courtney!

O.K. so has anyone noticed my new header? It was FREE thanks to http://houseof3.com/ My roommate from Ricks College posted about them on one of her blogs. You should really check it out.http://alittlesomethingart.blogspot.com/ Anyway, Courtney is a very talented scrapbooker, triathlete, mom, (and I'm sure many other things too.) She has even been published in some scrapbook magazines!

Anyway, I've checked out many of your blogs, and thought "Wow! How did they get such a cute header?" So, thanks to Courtney, I now have one. Not only did she post about House of 3 on her blog, but she explained to me how to get the header onto mine. Those of you who have looked at my blog over the past few days probably noticed that I was having a little trouble with the title. So, Courtney fixed it and emailed it to me. What a great friend. Thanks Courtney! I love it! (Now I have to learn how to use Photoshop so I can repeat the process!)

American Idol My Top 3 Picks

O.K. so are you guys watching American Idol? My favorites are Adam Lambert and Danny Gokey. Although, Allison Iraheta is in close second. I thought Adam's rendition of "Satisfaction" was fantastic. He took that song to new places. I was going to include the link for his performance on youtube, it was there this morning. However, when I went to upload the link, it was gone. On that page there is a message about copyright. Anyway, hope you guys didn't miss it. He was great. (Although, I still really enjoy Danny Gokey.) Just the fact that his wife passed away such a short time ago and he's still doing this is amazing!

A Moment to Vent

I look at my blog as a journal/platform/connection venue. Keeping that in mind, this post is more on the journal side of things and may not even make sense to anyone but me.
With all due respect to Forest Gump, I think he got it wrong. Life isn't like a box of chocolates. You see, if it were like a box of chocolates, whether or not you like the flavor, it would still be sweet. At times, life is anything but sweet. Lets face it, some moments in our lives are just plain bitter. Sometimes I think life is more like a roller coaster ride that we've been thrown head first into. We hang on for dear life as it goes screaming down the tracks. Life can take us so high we feel as though we could stroke the heavens. On the flip side, sometimes life takes us so low we have to brush the ash and brimstone from our feet before we can move on.

Usually though, to me, life feels like the weather channel. It can be sunny with blue skies, or partly cloudy with a chance of rain. Lately, it's felt like we just don't know what whether to expect. Life in general is sunny, but there are some clouds lurking in the background. Some days (and weeks) are just full of thunderstorms. This has been one of those weeks.

I think as a parent, particularly of a child with disabilities, we've learned to recognize very quickly when someone is offering us a great resource. On the other hand, we've also learned to recognize the Bull S#*!t. Our experience here in Colorado has been interesting. We're moving forward without the support of the Deaf Community and it's resources. (Corbin finally being able to hear made that an easy decision.) However, we feel like we're in limbo, and we don't have the support we had in New Mexico.

I'm not always this discouraged, but lately I've felt like I'm banging my head against a concrete wall! We went to the doctor on Tuesday. They made a scheduling mistake. So, we went back on Wednesday. The Doctor obviously knew nothing about what we are dealing with. Since she recognized that she had no answers, or even an inkling of where to point us, she referred us to another doctor. We won't be able to get into that doctor for another month. Argh!

Of course, that doctor isn't qualified to help us. She'll meet with us, and ultimately she'll have to refer us out to a specialist. In my experience, specialists can take months to see. So, this entire process will take about two or three months. As a parent, when I know my child is going to see a specialist, I can't help but feel hopeful that they can provide us with some answers. Usually my hope is dashed. They poke my son, invade his personal space, and in the end they have no answers. My question, is why can't the two family doctors confer for five minutes and point us in the direction we need to go? Why does everything have to be soo slow??? As a patient, and an advocate for my son, I view myself as the employer of these doctors. I pay them. I expect results. If they were employees in any other field, they would be fired.

It reminds me of when Corbin was still a baby. Our family doctor referred us to an ENT. The ENT spent awhile looking in Corbins ears only to say, "I can't see anything." My response was "Well if it's the cochlea, you wouldn't be able to see it would you?" He shrugged and brought another ENT in. They spent awhile chatting, throwing around medical ease, and finally turned to me and suggested surgery.

Unfortunately for them, I read alot. When Corbin was first diagnosed with a hearing loss, I read everything I could get my hands on. I learned all about the different types of hearing loss and all about the middle and inner ear. I understood their jargon, and I also saw the bottom line. They wanted to put my son through pain and suffering to satisfy their own curiosity. The surgery would solve nothing for Corbin whatsoever. My mother bear came out in her entirety that afternoon. I was less than polite in my response.

Yesterday we had a home visit from some of the therapists from the preschool. Two of the three preschool specialists who have been working with us are fantastic. They have given us great ideas. I've seen real progress stem from their suggestions.

However, one of the therapists just seems like she's not on the same page. She came yesterday in her head-to-toe matching outfit with coordinating jewelry. She pontificated for almost an hour and said absolutely nothing. Please don't get me wrong, I have no problem with women who dress nicely. It's just that after an hour, I felt like she had spent more time worrying about what she was going to wear to our meeting, than she did considering what she should say. I kept wanting to say "Cut the crap. You have no point. I know it. You know it. We are done here. " However, I didn't say that. I know enough about the system to understand that would get us nowhere.

I guess I'm a take the bull by the horns type of person. If there's a problem, I face it head on. I expect alot out of our early intervention team. I want them to research and find answers. I expect them to care as much as I do and put everything they've got into helping my son. I want them to help him. Unfortunately, the truth is that these people don't care as much as we do. They are missing a vital component. They don't love Corbin.

Perhaps I should lower my expectations in the resources available to us? I don't know. What I do know is that I'm losing my patience with these so called experts. Maybe I'm wrong to expect soo much.

As a family, we have lost time, money, and hope going through all of this. It makes me want to scream. Having vented thoroughly, I'm feeling a little better now. It's sunny outside, I'm going to take Corbin for a bike ride.

Hold your breath and count to 10? No, thank you.

The following is a fantastic article about birthing babies. See? I told you I'm in childbirth ed. mode! One of the videos I saw this weekend is called "Birth as We Know it." It's a great video with a wealth of information. I pulled this article from their website. http://birthasweknowit.com you can check out the movie trailor there. They also have a great sister site http://birthintobeing.com

Don't Push Your Baby Out, as per Coaching!American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology May 2005; 192(5): 1692-6.

Don't push! The pushing stage of birth is coached in most hospitals and involves the attendants telling the birthing woman when her cervix is fully open (dilated) and encouraging her to give long, strong pushes with each contraction.
Previous research shows that coached pushing does not improve the short-term outcome for mothers and babies, except when the baby needs to be born as soon as possible.
This study, conducted by Schaffer and colleagues at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, May 2005, randomized 325 women giving birth to coached or uncoached pushing.
Three months later, they measured the pelvic floor and bladder function of 128 of these new mothers.
Results Showed: Women in the coached group had decreased bladder capacity and less urge to empty their bladder. They were more likely to have an overactive bladder muscle, and to have stress incontinence, on testing.
Researchers commented, "With uncoached pushing, bearing down does not occur until uterine contractions are well established and the urge to push is present. There are normally several short bearing down efforts per contraction with breath holding for 5 to 6 seconds."
In contrast, "In coached pushing, the mother is alerted to begin pushing as soon as a contraction is noted, and she is encouraged to push for 10 seconds, take a deep breath, and push again. Coached pushing could potentially increase the amount of pressure on the pelvic floor with subsequent deleterious effects."
Guest comment by Sarah J. Buckley, MD:
Birth attendants have suspected, for many years, that damage to the pelvic floor is worse during a medically-managed birth. These same researchers have also shown that use of forceps, pitocin, and episiotomy also increase the likelihood of pelvic floor damage. Now we are getting evidence that coaching the woman to push against her instincts may also be harmful.
These results support the ideas of UK obstetrician Constance Beynon, who studied women's natural pushing during birth in the 1950s. She concluded, "... an entirely spontaneous second [pushing] stage is the ideal mode of delivery ..."
Her theory, supported by this study, is that the early part of the contraction acts to pull the woman's tissues tight, which protects her when she starts to push. The baby can then descend without damage as the woman pushes during the second part of her contraction.
Coached pushing also involves breath-holding (so-called 'purple pushing'), which is very tiring and can increase the chances of tearing. Purple pushing can also reduce the oxygen levels in mother and baby at this critical time.
Note that the mothers in this U.S. study were all lying on a bed, which is not a position that birthing women will naturally adopt. Lying down (or even being propped up) makes birth harder by immobilizing the sacrum, reducing the diameter of the birth outlet, and disallowing gravity to help the baby to come down.
Many doctors are now advocating a cesarean to avoid pelvic floor damage, although this benefit does not seem to persist in the long-term. Cesareans carry other risks for mothers and babies, including:
More newborn health problems, higher risk of maternal death and life-threatening problems in subsequent pregnancies, including placenta previa, placental abruption, placenta accreta, unexplained stillbirth, and postpartum hysterectomy for catastrophic bleeding.
There are many other reasons why cesareans are not the best option. See www.birthpsychology.com for more info.
References:
1. Schaffer JI, et al. A randomized trial of the effects of coached vs uncoached maternal pushing during the second stage of labor on postpartum pelvic floor structure and function. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2005;192(5):1692-6.
2. Casey BM, et al. Obstetric antecedents for postpartum pelvic floor dysfunction. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2005;192(5):1655-62.
3. Beynon CL. The normal second stage of labour; a plea for reform in its conduct. J Obstet Gynaecol Br Emp 1957;64(6):815-20.
4. McKinnie V, et al. The effect of pregnancy and mode of delivery on the prevalence of urinary and fecal incontinence. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2005;193(2):512-7; discussion 517-8.
5. Buckley SJ. Caesareans- the facts. In: Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering: The wisdom and science of gentle choices in pregnancy, birth and parenting. (In press) Brisbane: One Moon Press, 2005.www.sarahjbuckley.com
Sarah J. Buckley, MD is a writer on pregnancy, birth and parenting.Related Articles:
Good News for Natural Birth,
Eight Ways to Increase the Safety and Comfort of Childbirth